Home owners of low EPC properties could be forced to upgrade them before sale

Homes with poor energy performance could be banned from the sales market, with owners having to upgrade them before being allowed to sell them.

The call has come from the Committee on Climate Change and could affect at least 1.2m homes with EPC ratings of F and G.

As with the changes about to be phased in for rental properties from this April, owners would have to upgrade their properties to at least band E.

The Committee is initially suggesting incentives such as low-interest loans, but says if home-owners are slow to upgrade their homes on a voluntary basis, it should be made mandatory.

Another suggested incentive could benefit buyers in the form of discounted Stamp Duty if they upgrade the property shortly after its purchase.

David Joffe, the committee’s ‘head of carbon budgets’, said that targeting homes at the point of sale made sense because they were often upgraded at that time anyway.

The committee is also calling for higher energy standards in new homes, saying that housebuilders have done the absolute minimum.

Committee chairman Lord Deben said housebuilders should publish the expected costs of heating and lighting for each home.

x

Email the story to a friend



8 Comments

  1. Will

    Should lead to loss of homes as demolition might be an option. Retaining a property that you can’t sell or let and having to pay council tax.

    Report
  2. TheLettingsGuy

    So people that inherit a deceased estate would have to ‘do it up’ before selling? That would put an unnecessary emotional and financial burden on a lot of people.

    Report
  3. Dom_P

    Seems odd that people who are maybe experiencing financial hardship could be forced to find funds to do up their home if made mandatory, but also they would be unable to sell it if they couldn’t afford to do so. Would create “EPC prisoners”….

    Report
  4. StatementOfFact

    Farcical, all in the name of being enviromental, but whilst doing so potentially creating an unnecessary housing problem.

    What happens to development projects, or properties with no heating? Houses will sit vacant as people might not necessarily be able to afford to upgrade them.

    Report
  5. AgencyInsider

    So someone moving on from a property is forced to make an investment on behalf of those who will move in and live there, possibly for many years to come. That’s a vote winner. Isn’t it?

     

    Report
  6. Barndoor68

    Interesting, I’m an auctioneer and I would image 80% of our houses would not meet the criteria. Some of which would require £50,000+ spent on them. And as mentioned above many of these are deceased estates being sold not just by the families but sometime the next door neighbour is the executor or the possibly the solicitor.

    Who do they propose is to undertake this work when there is no money to do it.

    Report
  7. gk1uk2001

    Absolutely bonkers idea. I wonder if they’ll actually consult with anyone within the industry to understand the effects and impact before they proceed and implement something like this? Based on previous legislation changes, I doubt it………

    Report
  8. micheal86

    Please see our blog on the same subject. http://www.care4properties.co.uk/laws-and-regulations/changes-law-regarding-epc/

    Report
X

You must be logged in to report this comment!

Comments are closed.

Thank you for signing up to our newsletter, we have sent you an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Additionally if you would like to create a free EYE account which allows you to comment on news stories and manage your email subscriptions please enter a password below.